Starting Over
by greenitalian89
Summary: Bella, her cousin, Alice, and two kids moved into Forks for a new fresh and clean slate in life. Things are going great thus far, but will things go awry or even better when the hot mechanic moves right next door to Bella and company? This story was originally drafted and written by twilightlover212. She wrote the first five chapters, and gave me permission to continue after that.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: As I said before, the first five chapters belong to twilightlover212, and were not written by me. Neither one of us own the characters, books, or movies. Don't sue. **

A new face:

"Alice!" I yelled enthusiastically

Alice, my cousin, had flown in from DC to come and stay with me and the kids for the four years that she attended college. Lucky for her I happen to have a flat at the back of my yard or else she would have gone a lot crazier than her normal crazy.

"BEllA!" she screamed, jumping up and down and clapping her hands together.

After my divorce with James, I had reconnected with my family and friends whom James had said weren't good enough to be in my life and were just pouring poison in my ear about my marriage.

After eleven years of marriage, I decided to grow a backbone and end our marriage, if you could even call it that.

I watched as Alice danced her way over to me and nearly tackled me to the ground when she gave me a hard hug.

"I've missed you so much! I'm so glad mom and dad had decided to let me attend Peninsula College and let me live by you." She cried.

One thing about my cousin Alice Brandon she tended to be a bit dramatic at times. But I loved her anyway.

"Good to see you too, Maggie was practically jumping around she was so excited that you are going to live with us." I laughed. " she kinda reminds me of you, when she acts like that!"

She chucked and replied; "I'm excited to see my favourite girl cousin too!" she gave me a serious look for about a second and then burst out laughing the next.

Some people get confused when I talk about my 18 year old cousin, when in fact I am a 36 year old divorced mother. The fact is that, Alice's mom is my dad's sister. My dad is in his sixties whereas her mother is in her forties.

I grew up with her mother, so to speak. My dad moved to Forks after marrying my mom. This was round the time that Alice's mom was born. My parents married young.

After Alice was born I visited a lot because I attended a college close to where they lived. I met James at the university; we got married two years after finishing our degrees. His in criminal justice and mine in journalism. After getting married I tried to stay in contact because James had moved us back to Forks but James had told me not to bother keeping in contact with my family because they weren't making an effort with me. And so I had lost contact with my family and Alice.

While I was remembering all of this, Alice and I had moved to the car and she had placed all her bags in my trunk and was now standing in front of my waving her arms around like a lunatic.

"Hellooo? Earth to Bella?" she said

"Sorry Alice! Lost in thought! Let's go!" I said hastily.

We climbed into the car and headed towards Forks. I turned the radio on and immediately Alice was bopping round singing with the music. I softly laughed to myself; Alice was exactly what the doctor ordered.

After a few songs I turned the volume down to speak.

"So, are you excited to go to college this summer?"

She turned towards me and her whole face lightened up. Yip, she was excited alright.

"Are you kidding me Bells? I'm ecstatic! It's going to be amazing! Well I am a little scared but mostly just excited! I feel like jumping up and down or screaming at the top of my lungs or something!" she laughed a bit hysterically.

I laughed in return, this girl was either going to be a handful or a ton of fun to be around. I took a deep breathe in and out; I haven't felt such relief since the day that I told James that I wanted a divorce.

I turned into my street and Alice let out a squeal. This fact should be known Alice had only been to my house a couple of times and when I say a couple, I mean twice. Alice lives on the other side of the continent, so it makes sense for us to barely see each other but Alice makes sure to keep in contact with me, be it via sms, or phone call, e-mail or whatever, she does it.

"Ok, now before we reach your new home, I have something to tell you! Wait before you start jumping up and down again. I know that Port Angeles is about an hour away, so I spoke to your dad and he agreed to buy a car for you!"

She looked at me like I just told her there was a sale at Gucci or something. After she had gotten over the shock, she started squealing. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing. My cousin is really crazy, but I love her anyway.

When I turned into my drive way and she saw the brand new yellow Porsche sitting in my driveway, another round of squealing and jumping up and down started all over again. Laughed again and climbed out of the car. I motioned for her to do the same.

"Oh my gosh! AH! It's amazing, he actually listened to me! It's strange I kinda new this was going to happen! AH!" She screamed enthusiastically.

"Alice, there are stipulation to having this car!" I said seriously.

"Yes, yes, anything as long as I get to keep this baby."

I knew she wasn't really paying attention. She was too focused on her new car.

"Alice! Listen! In order for you to keep the car you have to pay your own gas, which means that you'll have to get a job! Your dad also said that you have to help out with the household duties but I told him that you are just starting out with college and don't need to saddled down with chores!" I told her.

"Thank-you, thank-you!" she hugged me and bounced up and down.

After she let me go and headed over to the car and started unloading al of her bags." Come on kiddo, it's time to see your new place!"

Her reaction to the flat was pretty much the same as her reaction to her car. After getting unpacked was she walking around the flat, taking notes and occasionally mumbling to herself. Knowing Alice, she was probably figuring out what colour to paint her bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen and the adjoining living room.

I chuckled to myself and left her to her own devices. I headed into the kitchen because it was time to make dinner. I didn't know what Alice's favourite dish was so I made something everybody loved lasagna.

As I was putting the finally touches to the dish, before putting it in the oven, I heard the doorbell ring. Knowing Alice to probably still be in her flat, I went to answer it. The doorbell rang again.

"I'm coming!" I yelled.

Wiping my hands on a dishcloth and throwing it onto my shoulder I answered the door. There standing before me was probably the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. His biceps were straining against the casual black t-shirt that he wore. He was built, I felt like a teenager again staring at this mystery man on my doorstep. Realizing that none of us had spoken yet, I cleared my throat and extended my hand.

"Hi, I'm Bella Hunt, what can I do for you?" I asked politely trying to keep from drooling.

He took my hand, and even though it was cold outside my whole body instantly warmed up when our palms touched. A blush crept up onto my face. Who would have thought that at the age of 36 I was still blushing like a 16 year old?

"Good evening Mrs. Hunt, I'm Jacob Black. I now it's late but I just arrived and I got a little lost!" he said. He showed my a little piece of paper with his new address on it. A new wave of heat washed over my face when I realized that his house was the house next to mine.

I laughed lightly and gave him back the piece of paper that was in the hand that Jacob had previously shaken.

"Well do you want the good news or the bad news?" I asked while laughing.

He thought for a moment and said, "the good news first!"

"Well, you be glad to know that your house isn't far from here!"

He rose up and eyebrow and asked, "and the bad news?"

I couldn't help but laugh, same this poor, HOT man was going to live next door to me and my kids and now Alice too. Shame.

"The bad news is that you'll be living next door to me and my crazy kids and cousin!" I laughed.

He frowned for awhile before he started laughing to. "Oh, you can't be that bad!"

I just continued to laugh. I really didn't want to drive this man away, wait what I was thinking. Fuck! I was a grown-ass woman already fawning over a man I've barely known!

"Well, it's nice to have met you. I do hope that you like the neighbourhood!" I said seriously. I had to contain myself.

"Well, if everybody is like you then I'm sure I'm going to love it!" he said with a wink.

I blushed again. I swear this man was going to be the why I spontaneously combusted from the heat of the blushes he was giving me. I turned around and saw Alice watching me with a smile on her face. I turned back to Jacob.

"Well Good-night Mr. Black." I said with as much seriousness I could contain.

He looked a bit confused for a minute but nodded his head. "Good-night Mrs. Hunt." With that he turned and ran to his car because it had started to rain again. I watched him drive the little ay to his driveway and closed the door.

"Well that was interesting!" Alice said from behind me.

I jumped when I heard her voice, I knew she was behind me but I felt like I was being caught with my hand the cookie jar.

"Alice, you scared the shit out of me!" I said a little breathlessly.

"So who was that HOT man!" she said fanning herself. Alice can be really dramatic at times. I laughed at her and just shook my head.

"I rolled my eyes and said a little sternly, "that MAN, Alice, was MR BLACK! Our new neighbour." When she heard that he was going to be our new neighbour she squealed and started jumping and down.

"Alice! Calm down….he is way too old for you anyway missy!" I said sternly.

A look of disgust passed over her face and she raised her right eyebrow. "Eeuw! I said he was hot not that he was my type. I was thinking more in the lines of you!" she snorted.

Now it was my turn to be shocked! Me? I wasn't looking for a relationship! I had two young kids for fucks sakes!

"Alice, are you insane! I have two young children, that's enough for me!"

"Seriously Bella? You're going with that excuse? Just because you have two children doesn't matter their age," she added quickly seeing as I was about to interrupt her, "doesn't mean that you can't date at all. All it means that the man you do eventually choose to date will be perfect because he will not only be a choice for you but also for your children. Now when that gorgeous man realizes that he wants to date you, I will be there to make you look stunning!" she finished off her lecture.

I stared at her for awhile! This was a side of Alice that I had never seen before. I just nodded my head but I knew deep down that I wasn't going to hop for some miracle to happen, neither was I going to let myself feel something for Mr. Black! I just have a lot to lose if something goes wrong!

"Alice hun, why don't you test drive your new car while we wait for the kids to come back and for dinner to be ready?" I know if Alice stayed here she was going to talk non-stop about Mr. Black and I wasn't really in the mood.

Her whole face lit up and she was momentarily unable to speak which was quite surprising because Alice was never unable to speak. I went over to the small table next to the door, dug out her keys from the drawer and tossed them at her.

She caught them and ran out the door faster than I could say bye. I laughed by myself. Alice was going to make sure that I never had a dull moment even though she did some of the things unintentional.

I headed into the kitchen to start making the salad but was interrupted again when the doorbell rang again. I wonder who it was this time?

I walked over the front door and open the door only to be bombarded with two kids.

"Momma!" they both cried. I just chuckled.

"Thanks Jasper, tell your mom I said thanks!" I smiled at him.

"No problem Mrs. Hunt and I will, you know she doesn't have a problem looking after them anyway." He chuckled softly.

I laughed lightly. My best friend Rose, since college, is dying to have a house bursting full of kids. The sad thing is, is that after Rose gave birth to Tia they found out that if she had another child, that she wouldn't be lucky and that she will die! Emmett didn't touch her for nearly a month after that; afraid that even though they were safe she would fall pregnant.

Rose was depressed because not only won't her husband touch her but also because she couldn't have anymore children. I had enough from both her and Emmett so I sat them down and gave Emmett biology 101 lessons, after I lectured him it was her turn. I yelled at her and told her that even though she couldn't have anymore children, it didn't mean that she should forget about the two that she did have. It took her a week to snap out of her depression and start living and enjoying her life with the children she did have.

"You drive safe, the roads are pretty slippery here in Forks and you know you can call me Bella!" I smiled.

I watched him drive off before I turned around and said Hello to my kids properly. "Where is my Benny Bear and my Magpie?" I called out to the house. Two little monsters came running out of the kitchen. They fell out onto me, causing me to fall. When I landed on the floor I started tickling them. Their childish laughs always lifted my moods even when I was at my happiest.

"Momma missed you so much. I just want to eat you up!' I said rolling around in the floor. I was so busy tickling and rolling around on the floor that I didn't notice when Alice entered the house. I only noticed because my kids stop trying to tickle me in return and yelled out, "ALICE!" and stormed of to her.

"How's my favourite girl and boy cousins?" she asked while being hugged tightly around the legs by the two in question.

Benjamin was the first to speak and to let go of her legs. "It is good because you're here Cousin Alice!" Alice responded by chuckling and ruffling his hair.

She bent down and looked Maggie in the eye waiting for her response. "Alice, I'm happy that you'll be here all the time! Now you can play dolls with me and we can dress up. Ben is a boy and he doesn't understand girl things." She said while crossing her arms over her chest. Alice laughed lightly and said, "You're right!" she kissed her hair and walked to help me up; I had forgotten that I was still on the floor.

The timer went off signaling the start of dinner. I put the unused salad ingredients back in the fridge and took the lasagna out of the oven. I started dishing up for everybody and served them. Ben and Maggie couldn't keep quiet; they kept bombarding Alice with questions or statements that she could barely eat her own food.

After dinner and we sent Ben and Maggie reluctantly off to bed I poured and glass of red wine for both me and Alice. I was aware that the legal drinking age was only at 21 but we wee only going to drink one glass and it was under adult supervision.

"Thanks but I don't think that I'll be able to enjoy it anyway. I'm so exhausted from the long flight." She yawned.

"I'm exhausted from just working. I feel old!" I complained.

Alice laughed beside while I placed my glass down on the counter and fell down onto the couch. "Well being Editor of a newspaper, I'm assuming can be quite exhausting. You get to mother at work and mother at home, very exhausting!" she deducted.

I chuckled, "wow, you're right!" I chuckled again. Alice and I talked for several more hours. We did only have that one glass of wine. Alice's maturity levels were extremely high. It never occurred to me, throughout the whole night that I was talking to an 18 year old girl going to college for the first time.

We talked about my marriage about James, about having children, falling in-love for the first time. Alice confessed to me that she was a virgin, something that I always thought she wasn't. I felt ashamed to think that of my own cousin but I wasn't a virgin when I was her age, this too I told her.

"Really?" she asked, a frown forming on her face.

"Yeah! Edward was/is my best friend. We grew up together. We started dating and fell in-love. He was my first." Nostalgia creeping up on me.

"Why didn't it work out?" she inquired.

"He became too possessive and jealous when I went off to college. I barely had any guy friends because Edward scared them all whenever he came to visit.

"So, you didn't go to the same college?"

"No, he went to Julliard for music and I went to Yale for journalism. He would visit as often as possible, if his parents weren't so rich Edward would have probably never have gone to college if that meant that he could never see me again." I sadly stated.

"He really loved you a lot! But if I was dating a guy that possessive I would have left him too!"

"Yeah!" was my only reply. I lay in bed thinking about Edward and James. The two men in my life that I had loved. While I was drifting off to sleep thinking about the two, Jacobs face popped into my head.

That night, I didn't have blank dreams or nightmares. That night I dreamt of Jacob Black, my new neighbour!


	2. Chapter 2

**Dirty Little Secret:**

**BPOV:**

I was awoken by a very enthusiastic little boy jumping up and down on my bed. I groaned and turned around to tackle my son to the bed.

"Ahh momma" Ben laughed while falling onto the bed

"I think it's time for the tickle monster to come out." I replied whilst raising my arms and tickling my son so much that he started squirming around.

"Momma stop, please stop" he said in between laughing and breathing.

I tickled him a little more before I stopped. I loved him and his sister with all my heart and it broke my heart that both of them came from such a bastard of a man.

The thought has occurred to me from time to time that knowing what I know, would I simply not get married to him. But then I remember the two angels that he had given me. it's simple I wouldn't go back and warn myself not to marry James maybe I'll warn myself of future dangers but not to marry him because without him I wouldn't have the two miracles that I call my children with me today.

When I looked over to Ben I realized that he was no longer there on the bed beside me. An initial panic set until I heard him laughing in the living room. I climbed out of bed and started my daily routine. Which always started with opening the curtains but before I had the chance to move on to the next part of my routine, suddenly I was frozen to the spot.

There standing before me, or so to speak, was Jacob Black the hot new neighbour. I couldn't move, I felt like such a pervert. There he stood, naked as the day he was born; he didn't even have a little towel to wrap around his perfectly shaped ass...

_Wait!_ I am a mother for heavens sake I shouldn't be ogling my neighbour I'm not some hormone craved teenage boy for heaven sakes. But before I could turn around, he turned around and now I was face to face with him, well actually a whole lot of him.

I kept repeating one line through my head: _Don't look down! Don't look down!_ I tried but my eyes and my brain weren't working on the same wave length. What I saw had my eyes turning into saucers and my face turn blood red! He was HUGE! Was that size even possible!

Without, voluntary thought, I licked my lips. My brain hadn't even registered what my lips Cleary had. The realization hit me when I felt my panties becoming soaked. Fuck!

On reflex I let my knees give away and I fell down onto my ass. I hid my face into my hands. I feel like a teenager, my heart was beating a mile a minute! After calming down and letting my embarrassment pass, I actually started to laugh.

I turned around onto my knees and very slowly started peeking over my window sill, checking to see if the cost was clear. When I saw that Jacob had left, I felt a wave of disappointment and relief wash over me. I could understand the relief but the disappointment had me feeling confused.

I sank down to the floor, knowing that I had a look of disappointment painted onto my face. That was how Alice found me a few minutes later.

"Bella, why are you on the floor?" she inquired

I looked up at her opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. Instead I just shook my head and continued to sit on the floor. I looked up at her again and saw a big grin spread onto her face. What could she possibly be thinking?

"Bella has this got anything to do with a very hot new neighbour standing half naked in front of his window?" she asked, a small giggle passing through her smile.

I just nodded my head and looked down in embarrassment. Jeez was it not enough that I already embarrassed myself with the, how did Alice put it, the hot new neighbour? Now Alice knows too!

"Argh!' I said covering my face with my hands once again.

While slightly laughing Alice said, "Bella you stay here and calm down while I get the kids ready!" I simply just nodded my head and continued to hide behind my hand.

After some time, I climbed off of the floor, careful not to look behind me, and walked into the bathroom. I quickly showered, brushed my teeth, washed my face and got dressed.

I decided that I was going to suck up my embarrassment because I was a 37 year mother of two and won't let a man control my feelings like that! I puffed out my chest, stuck my chin out and walked out of my room.

With my head held high, I entered the kitchen and who do I find sitting at my kitchen table. None other than Mr. hot new neighbour himself!

I quickly glanced to Alice to find that she was smiling like a Cheshire cat behind her coffee cup. I'm going to kill her when I get the opportunity!

I turned towards Mr. hot new neighbour, but the instant my eyes fell on him a blush crept onto my face. Great, now I really was embarrassed. By the smile upon his face it was evident that he clearly remembered that I was ogling him. I was quite surprised to see that he didn't have a blush or even a hint of a blush upon his face. It was clear that his ego was lifted to great heights this morning, and I was having none of that.

"good morning everybody." I smiled tight lipped at everybody, except Mr. Hot neighbour. Not giving him the time of day.

"Mamma, look at what Mr. Black taught me." Ben said excitedly.

I turned towards my son, to find him concentrating very hard on balancing the spoon on his nose.

"That is so cool Benny Bear."

"Mom"

"Yes, Benny?"

"Please call me Benjamin or Ben. I am not a little boy anymore." he replied in a serious voice.

I turned towards my 8 year old son but wasn't met with gorgeous brown eyes; all I saw was my son looking at Mr. Black as if he was his new hero. That diffidently took a hit to my ego.

"come on kids, I'll take you to school today." Alice chirped.

As Ben and Maggie were getting there coats and school bags, I grabbed Alice's arm and led her into the hallway bathroom.

"Alice! What do you think you are doing?" I whispered to her.

"Chill-lax Bella" she said, extracting her arm from my deathly grip.

"Why are you leaving me alone with that man?" I whispered a hint of panic evident in my voice.

"Oh, I don't know Bells. Maybe because you seriously need to get laid and maybe because it is obvious that you have an attraction to him!"

I stared at her dumbfounded. Did my 18 year old cousin seriously just tell me that I need to get laid! I opened my mouth a couple of times to reply but nothing came out but air. I probably looked like on of those string puppets, and all the puppeteer is doing is opening and closing my mouth.

"ok, Bye Bells!" she chirped again and kissed me on my cheek. Leaving me alone in the bathroom, with a very hot neighbour just a few meters away from me.

Help!


	3. Chapter 3

**Matters of the Heart!**

BPOV

Boom bah boom bah boom

The sound of my heart beat echoed through my ears. I felt like school girl, as if hiding could make all my problems disappear.

What was Alice thinking? Why would she invite the new neighbour? The very hot, sexy fine shaped ass neighbour over? I smiled slightly at that. Yes Mr Black was so good looking that I couldn't stop thinking about how I wanted to run my hands all over his body and especially cup that perfectly toned ass of his. A small moan escaped from my lips when I felt myself yet again being soaking wet. This man was going to run my water and electricity bill quite high if he was going to get me this wet every time I just thought of him.

I was in a deep state of confusion when there was a timid knock on the door. Thinking that maybe Alice had come back to apologise I threw open the door only to come face to face with none other than the man who had just recently caused my panties to become soaked.

"Hi," he said timidly.

"Um, yeah Hi." I blushed lightly. I glanced around realising that we were standing in the doorway of my hallway bathroom. "Sorry, um, had to use the bathroom after I spoke to Alice. Ha." I laughed nervously.

"Just in case you were starting to wonder if maybe I drowned or slipped or something." I said nervously.

"Drowned?" he asked completely confused. He glanced behind me, finding nothing that I could possibly drown in and turned back to me.

He chuckled nervously before i answered, "um, that sort of just came out. Verbal deharia I guess. Sorry."

"It's ok. You were probably also making sure this morning that nothing bad had happened to me to right? Just being a good neighbour right?" he replied while smiling wickedly at me, a tinge of lust evident in his eyes.

Dum dah dum dah dum, my heart rate had picked up again. I was hoping that somehow he had forgotten or would at least have tried to not say anything. I looked down letting my hair cover my face, hiding my now tomato red face from him.

"Just being a good neighbour." I whispered. 

There was a moment of silence, it wasn't awkward just silent. We weren't looking into each other's eyes like they do in some romance movie or whatever. I was looking at the ground trying to figure out a way to get past him without having to look up or accidently brush past him.

The silence grew, and my neck was starting to hurt a little. I was about to look up and ask him to move when I felt a pair of strong hands push me against the wall and force my chin up.

"Well then I should repay you for being such a good neighbour then." He said with a husky voice which had me wet all over again.

He stared at me with completely lust filled eyes; eyes which I was sure reflected my own. "Maybe you should" I whispered before capturing my bottom lip in between my lips, which I hoped was a sexy look.

He growled softly before pressing his lips against mine hard. He brought his left arm up and placed his hand on the wall next to my head while the other hand went down to my hips. His thumb started making sensual circles on my hip bone which had me moaning into his mouth. I brought my hands behind his neck and grabbed onto his hair, before I ran my tongue on the bottom of his lips, begging for entrance.

My grip on his hair tightened when he opened his mouth allowing my tongue to explore inside his mouth. His grip on my hip intensified, he was now pressing his thumb onto my skin just next to my hipbone. That caused me to involuntary buck my hips against his, causing a growl to come from him. Things were seriously starting to heat up and I knew that if I didn't put a stop to it then we were either going to end up fucking one another against my hallway wall or in the bedroom.

I detached my lips from him, so that I could speak but the only sound that came out of my mouth was a moan. At the exact moment that I had moved my lips away from his Jacob had found another part of my body to attach his lips too. At the current moment he was placing open mouth kisses all over my neck. It was taking all my will power to form his name on tongue.

"Jaaac….YES! Oh, GOD! Mmmmm….. Ahhhh!" at this rate I wasn't going to be able to atop or much less say anything.

His lips moved from lips a second to say something to me. In that second I had a moment of clarity. A moment for my mind to work.

"We have to stop." I said breathlessly

"Why? Don't you like me doing this to you?" he said while trailing his nose gently along my neck. When he finished talking, he moved his mouth over my clothed hardened nipples and sucked on them through my clothes.

"YES!" I yelled while pushing my chest closer to his face.

"See, you do like it."

"Nnn" I took a deep breath, "please stop" I begged

He dropped his head, took a deep breath and let go of me. I dropped my hands from around his neck allowing him to step back. I was half surprised that he actually listened to me. James never would have listened to me. He would say that although my mind is saying no, my body is clearly saying yes and he wasn't go to my little mind and that the only thing men listen to about women is when their body is speaking to them. That's what they were made for.

"Sorry" I mumbled looking down once again.

"Don't be. I was being a bit of an animal and my mother didn't raise an animal." He apologised.

This time the silence was somewhat awkward. I started shifting on my feet, clearly feeling awkward. "So," he cleared his throat, "um, it was nice seeing you again. I think I remember the way out. See you around." He said turning around.

"Stay, stay for coffee I mean." What? Was I really that desperate? Here was a perfect opportunity for me to regain some dignity I had left, and here I was inviting the man to stay for coffee. I felt like bashing my head against the wall. He turned around and just stared at me. Great! Make me feel like a bigger idiot.

"That would be great actually." He said smiling. I'm really starting to love that smile. It was quite infectious; I couldn't help but smile too.

"Um yeah, um do you remember how to get to the kitchen?"

"Yeah, isn't it just round the corner?" he said chuckling.

I laughed, "Yeah. It is sorry nervous habit."

"I see you have a lot of those." He said while laughing.

"Just go" I pushed him into the kitchen laughing.

After that day, Mr hot new neighbour, or a Jake, and I had grown closer as friends. Sure whenever one of us walks passed that specific spot all conversation stops and we look at each other with lusted filled us. Jake comes over almost every night, he is always sitting on the porch steps with a bottle or wine in his hand when I came home from work.

It has become our routine, he being a successful mechanic owner works his own hours and he works closer to home. So he was always the one buying the wine. I once mentioned it to him that I should [ay him back some way. He just looked me in the eyes, and said in a very serious voice. " you will do no such thing, now I have a lot of extra money lying around so why not spend it on a beautiful lady as you!" that was the last time I ever brought it up.

Jake unfortunately found out what I and Alice call him and has been teasing me to no avail about it. I threatened him that if he didn't tell me something embarrassing about him that would pay him for all the wine that he has brought for me. He looked at me, sighed and said. "Fine, but please try not to laugh. When I was younger there was this girl that every guy wanted, me included. So one day I thought that I was tired of just watching from the side-lines and was going to make a move. I walked right up to her, tapped her on her shoulder. When she turned around to see who it was I kissed her flat out. She was my first kiss. When I was done kissing her she told me straight that out of all her kisses, that I was the worst and that I should stop making out with my pillow. With that said she walked off and left me with everybody laughing at me including my friends.

I felt so sorry for him that I didn't think of what I was doing. I grabbed him by his face stood on my tips of my toes and kissed him so hard that he forgot that snotty little girl. When I was done kissing him, I was blushing like an idiot and realising what I had done. "So what was that for?" he asked

"Um, remind you that you are a very good kisser." I said nervously.

" well um thanks" he leaned closer until his lips were touching my ear, " you do realise now that I have more ammo to tease you with and this time I'm not going to try and balance it out" he said in a husky voice. I groaned and shifted away from him.

Exactly four months from our hallway escapades, I once again found Jake on my porch steps but this time he wasn't holding a bottle of wine with him or even a smile on his face. No, he looked as if somebody had drained the life out of him and left this shell behind on my porch steps. I rushed out of my truck, not caring that it was raining once again and I had forgotten my raincoat in the car.

"Jake, is everything ok" I asked concerned. He didn't look up just kept staring at the mud puddle close to his feet. I heard a muffled sound.

"Jake Jake, baby please speaking to me! Look at me!  
I demanded.

He slowly raised his head at me and what I saw shocked me. I took an involuntary step back. "Jake?' I whispered. The man that was sitting in front of me was a broken man. There was no life in his eyes.

"Bella, please just hold me." He begged.

I stepped forward and climbed into his lap had wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and started crying. I don't know how long we had been sitting there but Alice had come outside for heavens know what reason. I looked up at her and asked her, "Ali please take the kids to Roses tonight!" I pleaded with my eyes for her to do as I said.

It wasn't long before I heard the garage door opening and hearing the car driving away. "Baby, let's go inside. It's cold out here." I was going to move off his lap but he pulled me tighter into him and simple got off the floor and lead us into my house. I knew that the moment that the door closed behind us that everything was going to change. I just didn't know whether it was going to be good or bad.


	4. Chapter 4

**Exposed!**

BPOV

Boom!

The sound of the door closing caused me to jump. I was nervous; I don't think that I was ready for me and Jake to move to a physical relationship. Sure my hormones were screaming at me to just jump his bones but my heart just wasn't in it.

I turned towards Jake, and noticed that there was no way that we would go there tonight. Jake's cheeks were teared stained and his eyes were red and puffy. He had been crying. James never cried, it was weird. Even on our wedding day his eyes were completely dry, the day Ben was born: dry. Even the day that his little girl was born: dry. It completely took me off guard seeing a man cry.

"Jake uh are you ok?" I asked a little hesitantly.

He looked at me and didn't say a word. After a while I was becoming worried but all he did was grab me by my shoulders and hug me so tight that I couldn't breathe.

"Jake, honey. You got to let me breathe." He let go of me and I let out a breath. "Jake please tell me what's wrong! You're starting to worry me."

He stepped back and started to look around. His eyes found the couch and he moved towards it. As soon as he reached the couch he fell down onto it as if his knees had just given out. I was about to ask him again to say something when he started talking, well he was whispering. I moved towards the couch and sat down in front of him, which meant that I was sitting on the floor. I grabbed onto his knees and started rubbing soothing circles, just keeping him calm.

"I was at home getting ready to come over for our usual hang or whatever this is, when I got a phone call." He took a deep breath and then continued, "It was my dad phoning me, he asked me to sit down. Me being me refused and told him to just tell me already. He took a deep breath and told me that, that…my…mmmmmooom diiieed this afternoon in a car accident." This time Jake wasn't holding back he full on cried. I climbed onto his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, just letting him get it all out.

After a few minutes Jake sobs grew softer, he moved his arms under my body and picked me up bridal style and carried me to my bedroom.

He gently placed me onto my back and hovered over me. "Bella, please kiss me." He begged. With my arms still wrapped around his neck, I pulled him closer and softly kissed his lips. Out of nowhere, the soft kiss turned into a hard one. Jake pressed his body onto me. I didn't complain about the weight, it comforted me. I open my legs and wrapped them around his waist. He settled between them perfectly. It was as if our bodies were made for one another.

Jake moved his hands from next to head onto my right boob. His full hand cupped it completely. He squeezed it a couple of times, which had increased my breathing to an almost dangerous level. I knew where we were headed; my body was screaming at me to just rip his clothes off already but my head was singing another tune.

"Jake" I said breathlessly, I bit down onto his lower lip as Jake's thumb grazed over my hard pert nipple. My whole body responded to that one tiny movement of his thumb. Jake seemed to enjoy it too because I could feel him standing full attention ready to enter new territory.

"We have to stop Jake." I begged, "Please." I whispered.

He didn't cease his teasing nor did he move off my body. All that stopped was his assault on my neck. " but why? Please Bella, please." He begged with tears brimming in his eyes.

I couldn't do it. Even though our bodies were screaming at us to continue, I knew that neither one of our heart were in it. I couldn't do this to Jake and myself. It would be unfair to both of us. What Jake needed now was a friend not a lover. We would be having sex for all the wrong reasons.

"Jake, you don't truly want this. Your mother just died." I didn't want to bring it up but it Jake stop making those circular movements over my nipple then I wouldn't have said it. Mission successful, his movement abruptly stopped. He lifted himself onto his forearms and looked me dead in the eyes.

"What did you just say?" he questioned.

"Jake, I'm not ready for a physical relationship and at this current moment neither are you?" I stated

"Well I disagree and sorry to tell you this but your body disagrees too." With that said he ripped my shirt and bra off and started his new assault on my now very hard pert nipples. "JJJAAAAAAAAAKKEEEE!" I moaned, I arched my back which meant that I was pushing my chest further into Jake's mouth.

I lost complete and utter sense for a while and just let my hormones take control for a while. I was enjoying this too damn much. I gripped a fist full of Jake's hair a tugged onto his hair. I don't know if I was doing to it to make him stop or make him continue. Either way I got what I wished for.

"Jake, I'm begging you. Please stop!" I half sobbed – half moaned. I was definitely torn. I placed my hands onto his chest and pushed as hard as I could for him to get off of me.

"Bella, why won't you let my just love you?" he asked

I sighed and answered, "Because Jake you're not loving me at the moment only using my all too willing body to feel anything besides what you feel now. Having sex now it's going to bring your mother back Jake. You can stay the night, I'll kiss you and hold you as much as you want that's as far as I'm willing to let you use my body."

He pushed himself completely away from me, leaving a cold breeze to blow over my exposed chest. "You know what Bella, just leave it. I don't need you; clearly I was wrong coming here in the first place. Good-bye." He said turned around and stomped out of my house. I could hear the echo of when he slammed his door shut and the vibrations of when he slammed my door shut.

This had definitely turned out for the worse, shit!


	5. Chapter 5

**Surprises**

**BPOV**

She was absolutely gorgeous, young but gorgeous. She had long sleek black hair that came all the way to her waist.

She leaned her top part of her body against the door frame. "May I help you? "She asked politely.

It is going to be really hard to hate a girl that just seems so nice. I just can't believe Jake would have the nerve to sleep with some slutty college girl. I really didn't think that he was that type of guy.

I glanced back up at her, because seriously she was some sort of freaky tall! Is it even possible for girls to get that tall? Short guys must be a lot of fun, but they can probably get boring that's probably why she is here.

"Um, I was looking for Jake but I can see that now really is not a good time." I looked her square in the eyes because I really did not have anything to be afraid of!

"Who is it?" Jake's beautiful voice asked from the background. Yes I did just say beautiful seeing as its Jake and everything about him is beautiful.

She continued to look at me waiting for me to say my name. "Bella" I mumbled.

"Dad, it's some chick named Bella." She shouted behind her shoulder.

Did she just say dad! As in dad, like she has a dad and he is Jake. "Oh my gosh I need to sit down." I said a little woozy. The world had started to spin around me just a little. I grabbed onto the porch chair and took a deep breath in and out. It didn't seem to work I still felt like the very floor that I am standing on had been ripped out from under me.

"You don't look so good, come inside let me get you a glass of water." She said with worry.

I didn't say anything; I don't think that I could. All that was going through, my mind is: he's a father, a dad, he has a daughter. She took my silence as a yes and laced her arm around my waist and led me inside.

Throughout the four months that Jake and I had our late night get togethers, I had never seen the inside of his house. His house felt homey, cosy. Not like a home that someone with a lot of money would own. They have the tendencies to show off their money in what they put around their house.

If I wasn't feeling so light headed and confused I would have studied the pictures that hung on his walls. I would have sat down on the floor for no particular reason and felt comfortable.

She led me into the kitchen and placed me onto the chair. I looked up from the chair and studied her as she went about to get me glass of water. She looked about 20, 21 which means that Jake was about 18, 19 when he had her. That sounds like Jake is some girl giving birth or something. I groaned and put my head into my hands.

"Here" she said, placing the bottle of water next to me.

"Thanks" I mumbled into my hands, I do hope she heard it.

"Bella, what are you doing here?" I could recognise that voice anywhere, Jake.

A slight smile appeared onto my face but it quickly disappeared when I saw the expression on his face, he looked pissed. _Shit._

"Jake, I" I stuttered.

"Yes?" he uttered cruelly. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for me to continue.

"Look I came to say sorry, that I didn't come after you but I'm not sorry for saying no." I said determinedly and a little uncomfortably that his daughter was in the room.

"Um, dad I think I'm going to go um, somewhere else." She said uncomfortably.

"No, Claire its ok. This won't take long." His look softened when he looked at her, the love that he held for her was clear on his face but when he looked back at me it just disappeared, that love disappeared to something between hate and disappointment.

That made me angry. Does he hate me because I refused to have sex with him after something tragic happened? I was acting like a school boy.

"Jake, I refuse to feel guilty about not putting out for you! I didn't want to do something that we would both regret. I wouldn't want you to look at me differently. You were going through something tragic and my heart goes out to you, but sex was not going to be the option to solve that. If you really cared for me you would have respected that."

This time it was my turn to fold my arms and look at him with disappointment. James had looked at me the same way after I was just too damn tired for him to fuck me, not that it normally did stop him.

"Jake, I went through this with my ex-husband. He was a bastard that would get drunk every night with his buddies at some pub and come home to me expecting me to sleep with him after I had a long day running after the kids, cleaning the house, trying to squeeze in some work. And when would say no, do you think he stopped like you did and just stormed out of the house like you? No. he would slap me across the face, yell at me that it was my wifely duty to take care of my husband, and when I still refused or said I was too tired. He would just rip of my pants and fuck me until he had enough, until he was spent."

Tear were rolling down my cheeks, I didn't care anymore that Jake's daughter was standing there in the kitchen hearing everything I had just said. A sob escaped past my lips which had me falling to the floor.

God, I hated it when I cried in front of people. I sat there on the floor crying when I saw Jake's feet moving towards me.

"Don't Jake, you don't get to feel sorry for me now." I muttered through tears.

"I'm sorry Bella, I didn't know." His voice breaking a little.

"It seems that there is a lot we don't know about one another, for example you have a daughter." I couldn't take it anymore I got off the floor and headed towards the front door. I turned towards a stunned looking Claire.

"It was a pleasure meeting you; I don't think we will be meeting any time soon." I said dejectedly.

With that said I walked towards the door, this didn't turn out the way I wanted to but I didn't want people in my life and around my children that lied to me. I had to be a role model to them from now onwards.

"Bella wait"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Now! This is my first chapter I wrote that continues right where twilightlover212's left off. I hope you guys like this one as much as the awesome ones by twilightlover212. Thanks, and one more time I don't own the characters, the books, or the movies. This author's note has been typed in front of a live studio audience. Enjoy the story! **

"Bella, wait!" She was already out and walking to back to her house by the time I reached the door. I had never felt so many emotions at one time. I was angry because I was such an asshole to Bella. I was heartbroken learning the terrible past that she once had with her former husband. I couldn't begin to process my feeling, remembering I wasn't the only one in the room. I turned to face my confused daughter Clare, who was stunned by the occurrence she just witnessed. She recovered quickly to talk before I could even take in a breath.

"I have to get to class. I'll see you at dinner," she got it all out at the same time, grabbed her bag, and fled to her car in the garage. After she left, I kicked over my garbage can, knowing it wouldn't solve anything, but I needed to take my anger out on my something.

Claire didn't get out of school until 2, and then she had to go clock in some hours at her part-time job, some electronics store in town. I tried killing time, thinking about what I would say when she got home. I mean, I couldn't just act like nothing had happened. I sought anything out that would get my mind off how bad I felt knowing the things Bella had gone through with James. I mean, I knew he wasn't a great guy, but to hear the things I did just took me by surprise, and it makes me itch with hatred for the guy. I had never felt so angry ever in my life. I had never felt such a void in my heart ever since... Ever since Lina died... Lina was my wife and Clare's mother. We married after high school when we got pregnant, but she died during delivery due to a condition she had. We were supposed to have forever together, and to have her ripped from my life the way she was…

I thought I'd never recover…

I did though. I had my mom and dad to help me raise Claire while I went to school. I graduated, got a stable job and built a new house with my dad for my parents, Claire, and I. We lived there for almost 15 years before Claire went off to college in Seattle, and I got a fresh start starting up my own mechanical workshop here in Forks. Later on, Claire even transferred to a community college here in Forks. My mom and dad had stayed in the house me and dad had built, while both Claire and I visited often. Then tragedy struck, and BOOM! Just like that, mom's gone….She didn't have her glasses on, and accidently ran a stop sign. She didn't even see the car. The medical examiner I talked to on the phone said she was killed on impact, and probably didn't feel a thing. Not that that made me feel any better. I jumped out of my thoughts when I heard the front door close.

It was six, already?!

Clare walked in with her bag in one hand, and a shopping bag in another. I was curious..

"What's that?"

Claire frowned a bit, "It's a dress…for the funeral. I didn't have anything…so…. and I…."

"Yeah, it's okay." Claire had cried any time she talked about her grandmother directly, so I interrupted her before she said anything that would hit her too hard.

She was walking away to her room to avoid what was coming her way.

"Uh, hold on. We have to talk about this morning..." I stopped her before she could get there.

"You know, dad, it's none of my business. I'm going to go…." I interrupted her again.

"No, no, no, no, no… We need to talk now. Take a seat." She sat on the bar stool with a worried look on her face. "That was Bella, our neighbor, who I've sort of, been, kind of romantically involved with." Fuck, I thought to myself, I really should have focused on how I was going to say what I was going to say to Claire...I looked at her and her face screamed, _I really don't want to be here right now._ "Look, I tried to take advantage of her because I was angry about Grandma Sarah, and I, I feel horrible about it, the way I talked to her, the way I treated her, it was disrespectful.." "Dad, dad!" This time it was Claire to interrupt.

"Oh my God, dad, please stop! I don't need to hear this, okay; it's gross. It's awkward and again, none of my damn business. Okay? If you want to apologize, go apologize. Although, I don't think it's going to be that easy hearing what happened to her…in the past, I mean…"

"Yeah I know, eerily disgusting just thinking about it."

Claire seemed to turn sympathetic. "I'm sorry, dad. I know you would never do anything intentional to hurt anybody. You're the best dad and best man I know. If you really care about her that much, just tell her how you feel and really mean it when you make reparations with her."

"Thank you, sweetie." Her words touched my heart, and all I could do was hug her. She was right, after all. After the funeral, after I said goodbye to my mom, and things got the least bit back to normal, I would go to Bella and beg for forgiveness, and tell her truly how I felt about what happened, my feelings for her, everything.

Simultaneously, there were two loud grumbles. I released Claire as we both realized it was our stomachs.

"Cascata grill?"

"Cascata grill." Claire replied in an assuring way that that's what she wanted for dinner, seeing as neither one of us felt like cooking.


	7. Chapter 7

Claire and I got home right around from dinner right around eight. We had just walked through the door when Claire had spoken more words than she did combined while we were eating.

"Hey dad, I'm really tired. I was just going to go to bed early tonight."

"Sure, sweetie." I gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she was on her way to her room. Claire and my mom were really close. Claire didn't have a mom of her own, and the things she learned in becoming the young woman she is today she learned from my mom. They were incredibly close, and the accident hit her really hard. She's usually bubbly, talkative, and outgoing, but ever since last week when the family tragedy struck, she's been quiet and demure.

I plopped onto the couch and turned on the TV to hopefully catch up on the latest episodes of Robot Chicken. Ten minutes into surfing the channels, I heard glass break and then a faint crying coming from Claire's room.

I knocked on her door. "Claire, are you okay? Claire?" I realized that the door was left unlocked and I walked in her room to find her crying on the floor next to a broken picture frame with a picture of my mom in it. I rushed to Claire and helped her onto the bed and held her in my arms as she cried while making sure she wasn't hurt from the glass. Through her muffled cries and gasping, I heard an "I miss her so much already dad!" All I could say was "I know" because I too felt like I couldn't go a second without thinking about her and missing her. I fought to hold back my own tears knowing I had to be strong for my daughter.

Claire had cried herself to sleep in my arms after a half an hour. I had put her in bed with the covers over her tightly. It had nearly cracked my heart into two seeing Claire so distraught and not her usual self. It was a little past ten before I hit the sack myself and went to bed. I only hoped that only good dreams would come to me as I slept to take some of the pain I was feeling in reality.

"_Jake, I went through this with my ex-husband. He was a bastard that would get drunk every night with his buddies at some pub and come home to me expecting me to sleep with him after I had a long day running after the kids, cleaning the house, trying to squeeze in some work. And when would say no, do you think he stopped like you did and just stormed out of the house like you? No. he would slap me across the face, yell at me that it was my wifely duty to take care of my husband, and when I still refused or said I was too tired. He would just rip of my pants and fuck me until he had enough, until he was spent."_

_Bella's tears were rolling down her face like drops of aqua gently tumbling off of a leaf, her eyes void of any emotion besides something like the shooting pain you would feel if you were directly stabbed with a knife in the heart. As I heard the piercing word leave my mouth, it's as if they stabbed me in the heart just as forcefully. _

Riiiinnnnnggg!

I jumped from the sudden siren that is my loud ass annoying alarm clock, and groaned frantically from the dreadful dream I had. Apparently the dreams you have in your sleep happen simply an hour from when you wake up. At least, that's what I heard from Alice overhearing her conversation with Bella and the kids' babysitter guy, Jasper. That dream assuredly felt like it was merely a few seconds ago, so I may have to counter argue that notion.

I hopped up hurriedly to get in the shower, and get dressed for work this morning. When I arrived in the kitchen, Claire was already up and dressed, making coffee for the both of us.

"Morning!" She handed me my cup with a miniscule smile on her face.

"Morning, darling." I gave her a kiss on the cheek, and asked her how her day was looking.

"Oh, well… I have two classes this morning, and later after lunch I have two more. I'll probably be done by 3 and Mr. Jenks said I could have the rest of the week off from work, so I'll be home straight after school."

"Okay. We'll leave tomorrow night for La Push, and stay at the house until Sunday to help Grandpa , okay?" Claire nodded. I continued, "The funeral is scheduled for Saturday, and there's probably going to be a lot at the wake, a lot of people you may not even know. They're just there to send sympathy, and I know you don't really want to have to mingle much, but just entertain them a little bit, you know what I mean?"

Claire understood what I meant and nodded again.

"I'm not looking forward to meeting relatives and I never knew I had, but I know she probably touched a lot of people and it would make me smile knowing they came to say goodbye too."

"Yeah." I agreed. I looked down at my watch and saw that I was ten minutes late to work. Shit!

"I gotta go! I'll see you tonight. We'll order pizza and a movie, okay?" I gave her another kiss on the cheek, and ran out the door to my truck. I heard a "Bye!" as I jolted into the autumn weather.

As I got into my car, I saw Bella, Maggie, and Ben running out the door into their car just like I had previously done. I could tell Bella saw me because her beautiful smile transitioned into a broken frown as she cranked her car up and got the kids settled into their seats. I went ahead on my way to work as she turned the opposite way to the Forks Elementary School.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Please don't be afraid to review if you want. It's all welcome except for you know, flamers! **

JPOV:

One thing I love about my 30 minute car rides to La Push is spending time with Claire. With her focusing on graduating next year and me working at the shop, we don't get to spend quality dad and daughter time like we want to. Jamming out to old school R&B hits and slurping down huge 7-11 slushies is just what we needed to cheer up what has been arguably the worst week of our lives.

Our smiles and laughter were cut short as we turned into the Sequim Valley Funeral Chapel where we parked next to my dad's pickup truck. As I cut the engine off, I heard sniffles coming from Claire's direction as she saw my dad's dolphin necklace that was hanging on the rear view mirror in his truck. Mom had insisted he always keep it in there because the dolphin meant good luck and protection.

"Hey..." I said to Claire as I pushed her chin so that she was looking at me. "I know it may not seem like it now, but everything in time is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Wipe your tears."

I handed her a napkin and gave her time to compose herself before we got out of the truck.

As we went in, we were greeted by my dad, Billy. He had a meager small on his face even though I knew he had to be irrevocably damaged on the inside. He and my mom were married for over 35 years and the kind of love that they had for each other isn't the type that just goes away now that of them is gone. He put up a good front though as he embraced us both with his love.

Absolutely nothing could prepare my eyes for what they were going to see as I turned around towards the front of the room. It was my mom. There she was lying there in her casket, looking as peaceful as ever. She looked like the mom I'd known since I was born, yet she looked so different. There were too many emotions and thoughts going through my head for me to even process one. Claire and I walked hand in hand up to go see her closer, and it's like the closer I got to her, the more incoherent my thoughts became. When I was finally standing right in front of her, all the thoughts just stopped. Everything stopped for a minute. I couldn't hear any of the countless whispers I had heard on my way walking up the aisle to see her, or feel Claire's shaking hand intertwined into mind. It's just like everything that was going on around me stopped, but when the freezing stopped, I wasn't zapped back to reality. I was back in the very same funeral home. It is 21 years earlier and the woman in the casket was not my mother. It was Lina.

_I was bearing my two month old baby girl in my arms looking down at the woman that was once my wife. This week had been hard enough taking care of Claire, and I honestly don't know how I'm supposed to pick up the pieces and move on from this, much less with a newborn to care for. How am I supposed to take care of her when I don't want to take care of myself? I don't want to eat or sleep or even breathe for that matter. My heart has been shattered in two and I can't look beyond my future without seeing a spiritless, crestfallen teenage dad with nobody and nothing to help make matters more valuable. That's when my mother gently touched my shoulder and as I looked down to see her, our eyes locked and I abruptly knew from the love and sentiment that exuded from my eyes and fell into my heart, that no matter what happened, no matter how many people would come in and then leave my life, I knew that there was one person who would stay until the end, that would do anything and everything for me at the drop of a pin. That was my mom._

I was zapped back into reality at another tap of the shoulder. This time, it was my great aunt Hilda who had, when I turned to her, a long and loving embrace along with her most sympathetic condolences. The first of many tonight.

As I was released from a second embrace from a distant relative that I had never met in my entire life, I looked over to check on Claire who was too being embraced by a relative that I'm sure she had no idea that existed. She was smiling solemnly and fidgeting her fingers a lot which she always does when she's on edge.

The night ended with me, pops, and Claire eating some of the copious amounts of KFC dinner boxes that had been brought by family members, friends, and mourners alike as "grief food" for dad. Claire dismissed herself after eating only a drumstick and a bite out her mashed potatoes.

This left time for me and dad to finally have some time alone to really talk as we cleaned up the dishes.

"I talked to the insurance company. They're not giving more than $1500 and even with you pitching in $3000, there's still over $2000 that I don't to have to pay for this funeral." My dad just recently retired from his job as an electrician. He still works on little projects around the community for friends and acquaintances, and with that and his retirement checks, he makes just enough to pay for his car note and groceries for the house. Mom had stopped working for the education system a couple of years ago, but she still took care of the neighborhood children who were too young to go to school. She loves-loved- kids and never minded keeping them as company. That's just the person she was, but she didn't get a good pension, and she never signed up to receive benefits after she retired, from her job as a school teacher, because she had planned on starting a private day care when she had attained all of the licenses and certifications that allowed her to do so.

"Dad, don't worry about right now. Maybe we could work something out with Mr. Littlesea, and if not I'll just take out a loan for it." Finances for mom were the last thing I wanted the either of us to talk about right now. I didn't want him to have to add more stress onto himself by thinking of things like that, but he wouldn't budge.

"You will do no such thing, Jacob. You don't need to put yourself into any more debt. For goodness' sake, you're still paying for your shop, and not to mention Claire is still in school."

"Claire has a scholarship from her intern boss to finish school here in Forks for the rest of the year until she graduates. If taking out a loan is what we need to do, then, I'm doing it dad. "

He opened his mouth to continue arguing his case, but I wouldn't let him. I changed the subject.

"Who was that you were on the phone with a minute ago?"

I remember when Claire and I were still sitting down eating piece by piece of our chicken, dad got up to answer the phone. He left for the den after he exchanged hellos with the anonymous caller and came back while whispering his final partings of adieu.

Dad was surprised when I asked him who he was talking to and it took him a second to bounce back and reply. It almost seemed like he was trying to make up an answer on the spot.

"Oh, it was one of your mom's old co-workers, Mrs. Dossone. You remember her, right?" I didn't, but I shook my head anyway.

"Well, anyhow, she just called to say she wouldn't be able to attend the funeral and extended her sympathies and condolences."

He still had a look of uncertainty on his face and a falter in his voice as he answered me, but I dismissed his antics because I knew he was just distraught, stressed, and not himself.

He lost his other half. I remember how I felt losing mine, so I just stopped questioning him and left him be.

I retreated to my own quarters after saying goodnight.

That night, a dream emerged from my sleep. A familiar dream. Not even a dream. A flashback. The same flash back.

"_Jake, I went through this with my ex-husband. He was a bastard that would get drunk every night with his buddies at some pub and come home to me expecting me to sleep with him after I had a long day running after the kids, cleaning the house, trying to squeeze in some work. And when would say no, do you think he stopped like you did and just stormed out of the house like you? No. he would slap me across the face, yell at me that it was my wifely duty to take care of my husband, and when I still refused or said I was too tired. He would just rip of my pants and fuck me until he had enough, until he was spent."_

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews. They mean so much to me, especially with this being my first writing project ever! I will try to update the very least every two weeks now that the school year is ending and I have less work. I'll probably update weekly once the school year formally ends at the end of this month, so yay! :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. **


	9. Chapter 9

JPOV:

I woke up today my stomach twisted in the biggest of knots. I hadn't felt this queasy since the day I had put Lina to rest. You feel like you have to throw up but you can't. Even if you were to put your head over the toilet and sat there in waiting, you couldn't do it. But that feeling never goes away. Not until you see with your own eyes that the person you love is being lowered into the ground. That's when an inner peace washes over your anxiety, because you know that person feels no more pain and you have no choice but to come to terms with that even they're not in your life anymore.

That same inner peace washed over me as I watched my mother being lowered into her grave. I was holding Claire's hand tightly as we both cried out our final goodbyes to her and that's when I saw her…I had to look twice to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. Standing behind a woman who identified herself as Mrs. Dossone to me when arriving at the burial site-even though, I swore my dad said she was unable to make it to the funeral – was Bella, Maggie, Alice, and Ben.

My brain was still reeling from the shock of seeing them-her…

I didn't even realize that I had let go from Claire's grasp and was making my way towards them-her…

I hadn't even realized that I was capable of forming words and spitting them out my mouth until I heard them as I began speaking to them-her…

"Bella, what are you doing here?"

"Jacob…" Before she could continue speaking, my dad came along beside us as I noticed Alice and the kids slowly begin to drift away from us.

"Son, Bella had called last night while we were eating, and uh…" He must have seen the bewilderment in my eyes because he went on to say, "Look, just don't be mad. She only wanted to pay her respects to your mom and to extend her sympathies. I'm sorry I lied. I'll just give you two your privacy.

He then walked away as I turned my face back to Bella. I couldn't quite read the emotions on her face, but I would let her say what she wanted to say after I got what I needed to say off my chest.

"Bella, I'm so sorr…"

"Jacob, I'm so sorr…"

I looked at Bella in disarray wondering what the hell she had to be sorry for. I asked her too.

"Why on earth would you be sorry?"

That was when I got the first glimpse of the despair and remorse behind her eyes.

"Your mom, for one." She pointed to the ground the spot where my mom would forever lay in peace not far from Lina, actually. "And, also for the way I overreacted at your house..."

"You didn't overreact, I had no righ-"

"Let me finish…" I shut my mouth.

"I did overreact. You had just lost your mother. I don't even know what that feels like, but if I HAD lost my mom, I probably wouldn't have my head screwed on straight either. I should have been more sensitive. I should have done more to comfort you. I should have…"

That's when I had pulled her to the side as she got louder with each statement she made. People were starting to stare as they got back into their cars for the post-funeral reception to have dinner.

"Bella, Bella! Stop! Stop It! Listen to me!" I had to raise my voice louder than hers in order to be heard. "I AM SORRY! What I did was disrespectful and completely out of line. There was no excuse for my behavior, and I only wish I could prove to you that that is not the type of man that I am! Okay?! I've been dreaming every night since that day at my house about what you said, and it just makes me sick to my stomach, the way I acted. That's not me, that's not me, I swear. Please forgive me. "

At this point, Bella was almost at her breaking point of crying. The tears were the rims of her eyes but it's almost as if she was pulling them back. All I could say then was a final, sad, and resounding "I'm so sorry" with my head down afraid that she wouldn't forgive me or look at me the same anymore.

"Jacob, look at me." I looked at her coming to the realization that tears were trying to on the verge of falling down my face. "It's okay. I know that's not who you are, and I know that's not the man that you mom raised you to be."

She continued, "The man that I know is a man who I haven't even known for long, but someone I would put my life on the line for, and someone who I trust with my own life. The man that I know is a man who I can trust around my kids and my niece, and… Finally, the man that I know is the first man that I have ever really let down my walls for emotionally after I was forced to put them back up."

By now, we're both crying as more and more cars are leaving for the reception, and Claire, Alice, and the kids are waiting in the car.

All I could do was pull into my embrace and hug her as tightly as I could. She hugged me back as tightly, and I felt like my heart was smiling now, realizing in my mind that this was the continuation of our once-tarnished now-splendid again friendship.

As Bella pulled back to wipe her tears, she said, "If it wasn't obvious before, I assuredly accept your apology. Let's just sort of disremember all of this and continue from the whole awesome spectacular friendship thing."

I had to laugh, "HAHA, yeah! Deal!"

We shook on it and started to walk back to the cars, but not before I gave a final goodbye to mom.

_**Meanwhile in the car with Alice, Claire, and the Kids:**_

Alice had noticed Claire wiping tears and whispering "Bye, Grandma" to the casket after it was lowered in the grave. She put two and two together after Bella mentioned that Jacob had a daughter through her crying of heartbreak and embarrassment that evening of the house incident. She introduced herself to Claire and insisted that she get in Bella's van while waiting for her dad because of the cold weather. They got in the front seat and began to spy on Jacob and Bella as they talked.

_10 Minutes Later_

Maggie was dozing off to sleep in very back of the van, while Ben, in one of the two captain seats was busy playing Super Mario on his Nintendo DS.

Claire and Alice continued looking/eavesdropping on Bella and Jacob.

As they both saw that both Bella and Jacob were crying, they looked at each other with worried looks on their faces.

Alice began, "Come on, stop crying and forgive each other already."

Claire added, "I know… I swear I'll go out and there mediate like a lawyer if I have to."

Alice laughed and so did Claire, silently realizing this was one the first times she genuinely smiled after her beloved grandmother's death.

_5 Minutes Later_

It looked as if the crying was slowly ceasing between Bella and Jacob, and then Alice and Claire finally saw the two hug.

"What the fuck? Kiss her, dammit!" Claire exclaimed.

Alice then goes, "I know, right? What's a hug going to do? It's certainly not going to get her panties wet."

Alice and Claire look at each other and bust out laughing. They laugh so hard that Ben gets annoyed because they're too loud he can't concentrate on his game and they even wake up Maggie.

They look at each other again and say "Oops!" simultaneously and bust out laughing even harder.

Alice and Claire were slowly becoming friends with their silly antics and their mutual shipping **Belcob. **

JPOV:

Bella and I were now walking back to our cars as I started looking for Claire.

"Is that Claire in your van?" Jacob questioned curiously.

"Um, yeah. It looks like her and Alice have become quick friends." Bella observed as she Claire and Alice were just cracking up in the front seat.

Claire got out of the van to join me in my truck, as Bella and the kids followed us in their van to my dad's house for the reception.

Even though it started off as a sad day, it gradually got better, and as I was heading off to bed, I was still disheartened, yes, about my mom, but I had realized that I had finally accepted her passing, and also realized that instead of sulking around about it, I should celebrate her life and the happy times that I had with her. I also went to bed not once having a dream or flashback about what happened between me and Bella.

**A/N: Well, there it is. I really hoped you guys enjoyed that chapter and just to give a little preview of what's to come, I'll probably skip a head a few weeks ahead or so instead of starting the next chapter off the day after the funeral. Hopefully, I'll add more Alice/Claire funny time friendship, and eventually add Jasper into the mix! **


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